


hope grew with a hunger (to live unlike before)

by wolvesandgirls



Category: Anastasia - Flaherty/Ahrens/McNally
Genre: ADOW infused so it's very tense and tragic, Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, F/M, Forbidden Love, Meet-Cute, Vampire!Anya, Witch!Gleb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2021-01-29 01:37:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21402040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolvesandgirls/pseuds/wolvesandgirls
Summary: His blood sings to her; echoes through the streets, in his veins, and it’s almost a relief when the crack pierces her spine, throwing her to the ground. Almost. The ghosts that haunt her an almost-comfort when the call of him, the song in his veins was making her stomach growl.A Discovery of Witchesinfused Glenya.
Relationships: Anya | Anastasia Romanov/Gleb Vaganov
Comments: 8
Kudos: 19





	hope grew with a hunger (to live unlike before)

His blood sings to her; echoes through the streets, in his veins, and it’s almost a relief when the crack pierces her spine, throwing her to the ground. Almost. The ghosts that haunt her an almost-comfort when the call of him, the song in his veins was making her stomach growl.

He moves behind her, snow melting beneath boots warmed by his body -- by his blood -- and she shakes the thought away, digging her fingers into the frigid ground. She kept to the shadows when the witch gave his speeches — away from his charm and charisma that was no doubt exploited by the regime. But she listened, listened as his voice drew the chill from Leningrad’s bones, pulled hope from the cracks in the ground and filled the cracks in each of it’s broken citizens.

If only for a moment. 

His speeches warmed their only human blood until it didn’t, but it was enough to drive her to the fringes of the city, where cold, lonely, desperate things could exist without question, without notice. But the hunger ached behind her teeth, and when a broom was thrust in her hand, the straw scratching the frozen ground was loud enough the distract her from the city’s pulsing heartbeat.

And the _witch’s_ heartbeat.

“It was a truck backfiring,” he calls behind her, “that’s all.”

She freezes. Close -- _for her_ \-- his voice is like honey, tea, whiskey. Things that could warm you from the inside, and a purr crawls up her throat as she imagines what her name would sound like between his lips; whispered, shouted, spoken. Each inflection of vowel and syllable rolling off his tongue, fear and desire warming _her_ from the inside. 

“Those days are over, neighbour against neighbour,” he says gently, but she picks up on the tremor in his voice; the almost undetectable waver that gave him away. He knew what she was, and still.

She rolls over unnaturally fast, her hair catching in her coat, thin strands wrapping around her neck. The officer -- the witch -- takes a step back, instinctively; something so deep in his blood it didn’t matter how kindly his hand was offered. 

The air shimmers around her, and Anya focuses on a snowflake that rises from the ground and floats upwards, hovering between them. She counts each point of it before letting out an unnecessary breath and the bewitched snowflake floats away, the cries of her ghosts following it.

His hand falls to his side as he takes an uneasy breath, and Anya shuts her eyes as he exhales, drowning in him. He was warm, she could feel it, even sprawled on the ground across from him. All heat that billowed through his veins, heart pounding like war drums. She doesn’t dare take another breath, and when she opens her eyes, his hand trembles in front of her.

“We’re all comrades now,” and Anya feels the pull of him, his blood singing to her. She takes his hand, and even through his gloves, she feels his blood rush to the surface of his skin. She feels it against her cool fingers and she _wants_. Wants to taste, wants to curl into him, to destroy him, to have him as hers and hers alone. He meets her eyes, and through the chill, smiles. 

“I thought vampires didn’t feel the cold,” he teases gently as he pulls her from the ground. Anya stares at him, focusing on the slight tremor in his cheek. “You’re shaking,” he says in way of explanation, and she watches him flush pink. Warmbloods.

She curls her fingers into his too-warm skin, his witches blood rushing to the surface. “Surely, you don’t believe every rumour you hear.” 

She pulls her hands away from his, still, she feels him on her fingertips. “I’m late for work,” she says quietly, reaching for her broom. His steady heartbeat quickens and seems to echo around her. She wants, she _wants_. 

She turns on her heel, focusing on the quiet of the street they were in, and not the way the crisp air shifts as he moves behind her, as he — 

“What’s your hurry?” he shouts behind her, and Anya smells the smoke and cinnamon between them first, her body seizing as her broom is pulled away from her. She clings to it — is dragged along with it — back into the officer’s hand. His touch touches her, burns her.

She doesn’t move, can’t move, is too close to move. Adrenaline and panic and magic radiate off of him, burning her from the inside. She wants to see red, but instead she falls into the green wool of his coat, brushing the tip of her nose against it. 

He doesn’t smell of the city, how she expected him to when she watched his speeches. It is deeper. Forests. Tea leaves. Oil. Cloves from the cigarettes he smoked that laced through his blood. Gunpower. The mountain air thawing in Spring. Things she almost remembers. 

She steps closer, he doesn’t move. The erratic pounding of his heart like swords clashing and the anthem beats of war. Not fear though, something else.

Her eyes drift to the thrumming pinpoint of his neck, each drumbeat of his heart echoing painfully, and she reaches for it, he lets her, he _lets_ her. 

She rips herself away from him, ignoring dark eyes and parted lips. Ignoring the heat and electricity she knew would break her resolve if she reached for his hand. 

She steps away and before he reaches for her, she turns and growls at him, feral and ferocious and caught in her throat. It is reckless —they had drawn too much attention to themselves as it was — but the heat and warmth of him draws her in, pulls her cold, frozen blood to him. 

His breath washes over her, making her body sing in turn. She forces her eyes to stay open as his fingers graze her shoulder, and even through the worn wool of her coat, his heat creates tiny electric sparks beneath her skin. A purr rumbles in her throat, and the officer pulls his hand back. She blinks up at him. 

“I think you can-” he starts, biting his lip. She watches as the pressure pools, turning them a bitten red. Splinters bite into her fingers, and she ignores the draw, the pull, the heart of him -- 

“There’s a tea shop just steps from here, let me -”

_Bewitched_. 

“Don’t,” she cuts him off, wrapping her shaking hands around the broom. Pinpricks dance beneath her skin, and she tears her gaze away from him. “You need to learn how to control yourself. _Witches_,” she spits, keeping her eyes on his polished boots, “shouldn’t be using magic in the open.” 

He flinches, and the wave of anxiety that rolls off of him forces her back half a step. She steadies herself. Cold air snakes around her wrists, and she glances up at him, catching his wide eyes. 

He straightens, and Anya tilts her head as he balls his fists and clasps them behind his back. 

Anya feels him under her skin; and forcing one foot in front of the other, she focuses on the snow that doesn’t melt beneath her boots. Promises of tea and warmth die with each step, and eventually, at the outskirts of the city, she cools.

**Author's Note:**

> This was intended to be posted for Halloween, 2018, so it's quite sexy of me to only be posting in now, over a full year later!  
Softly infused ADOW Glenya. Playing very fast and loose with canons, but please enjoy it for all it's worth. 
> 
> My tumblr is [wolves-girls](http://www.wolves-girls.tumblr.com) if you need a person to scream at! Or chat at! Or go 'please stop posting old works you fool, and work on your current au' at!
> 
> Comments/Kudos always appreciated. xx


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